Terranea , never heard of it? Some Angelenos haven't, but here's a deal at the Palos Verdes Peninsula hotel and spa complex that could change all that. Terranea is offering a $150 day spa package that comes with a facial or massage plus a mini service. The deal: The Fabulous Fall Spa Sampler Package includes a 50-minute Relaxing Classical Massage or Skin Specific Facial (descriptions of each are on the treatment menu ) plus one "mini service" (polish refresh for hands or feet, brow shaping or scalp massage)

Lush smells, comfy semi-dark rooms and a sense of self-indulgence make a spa treatment appealing. But here are three treatments that aim to do more than merely pamper. Hot oil and needles If acupuncture seems more doctor's office than salon, perhaps it might sound more appealing if combined with a hot oil treatment. That's what you get under the care of Elisa Angelone at the Exhale spa in Santa Monica's Fairmont Miramar Hotel. I have had acupuncture treatments for headaches and other issues in various settings, including sitting on a doctor's stool in a brightly lighted office.

I was covered with salt. Salt between my toes. Salt on my knees. Salt on my back, so much salt, in fact, that I stuck to the sheet on the massage table when I tried to turn over. I felt like an entree, albeit a very relaxed entree. On a sweltering July day, I had retreated to Le Petite Retreat, an intimate urban spa in a Polynesian-inspired, feng-shui-correct 1920s bungalow on trendy Larchmont Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Beverly Hills Hotel turns 100 years old on May 12, cause enough for the hotel to serve a $100 cocktail in a take-home glass coupe engraved with its centennial design. Marilyn Monroe , Elizabeth Taylor and John Lennon slept here, as did many other luminaries. Now the hotel is chronicling its fabdom in words and pictures with the arrival of the book "The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows -- The First 100 Years" by Robert S. Anderson, as well as special centennial-themed offers.

We're still in a recession. Work is scarce, cash is low, spirits are lower and layoffs still loom. It seems like the least opportune time to pamper yourself, and yet it may be one of the most important. As a stress relief for you and your bank account, the spas of Koreatown offer first-class services at economical prices. Edward Kim, manager of Century Sports Club and Day Spa, put it this way: "People say we're a luxury. We're not a luxury. We're more of a luxurious necessity.

Shoppers from Pasadena to Mission Viejo are finding new spots to spend money on personal luxury: day spas where they can treat themselves to pleasures that range from a simple steam bath to a full day of rubdowns and relaxation. Day spas have been proliferating during the last few years at resorts and hotels, but they're a relatively recent phenomenon at shopping centers.

The bride-to-be splurges on a pre-wedding party, taking nine guests to a spa so exclusive that it will exist for only five hours -- in her Redondo Beach home. Another woman throws a "girls' night in" for her three best friends amid flickering candles and fluffy white robes in her Los Angeles den. Massages, pedicures and intense female bonding included. As spa-going has become more mainstream, in-home spa parties have become one of the nation's newest entertaining trends.

Nothing in Howard Murad's appearance or manner suggests a rebel. At 59, he is a soft-spoken, natty dresser with stylishly slender eyeglasses and short silver hair. Yet throughout his career, and especially in the 10 years in which he's built his El Segundo-based skin care company into a $60-million-or-more-a-year business, he has been a maverick. In his characteristically calm, self-assured way, he says, "I'm open-minded, and I look at things differently than a lot of people do."

IT'S Friday night and the techno beats are bouncing around the dimly lighted room. Perfectly groomed men and gaggles of smartly dressed young women are kicking back with wine, hors d'oeuvres and some pretty intense touching. No one is complaining about the very public interactions, especially not Leonard Lanzi.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a new day spa, the latest addition to the city's new downtown retail and entertainment hub. Lisa Belle Salon and Day Spa will offer hair care, makeup, skin treatment and massages. It will be in the Birch Street Promenade, which is also home to a 22-screen movie theater, restaurants, apartments and shops.

Terranea , never heard of it? Some Angelenos haven't, but here's a deal at the Palos Verdes Peninsula hotel and spa complex that could change all that. Terranea is offering a $150 day spa package that comes with a facial or massage plus a mini service. The deal: The Fabulous Fall Spa Sampler Package includes a 50-minute Relaxing Classical Massage or Skin Specific Facial (descriptions of each are on the treatment menu ) plus one "mini service" (polish refresh for hands or feet, brow shaping or scalp massage)

Making an appointment at Palm Springs' Spa Resort Casino is easy. I dial the number listed on the website, and after I am on hold about 90 seconds, a live person schedules a 50-minute "signature facial" for the following day. The fee ($120) includes access to a fitness center and a series of saunas, plus the "taking of the waters." Getting to the spa proves slightly more challenging. The website lists the address in downtown Palm Springs as 401 E. Amado Road, but that's the location of the casino.

If nothing else, Le Petite Retreat lives up to its name. A hideaway flanked by a tall office building and a piano store just north of the shops, restaurants and foot traffic in Larchmont Village, the bungalow is easy for passersby to miss — making it all the more secluded. And it is most certainly small, from the tiny changing areas (the men's room is big enough for only one person at a time) — with their individually wrapped mini toothbrushes and makeup remover cloths — and the claustrophobic showers to an easily cramped check-in area and parking lot. Lack of size means elimination of some perks for those used to major spa chains.

We're still in a recession. Work is scarce, cash is low, spirits are lower and layoffs still loom. It seems like the least opportune time to pamper yourself, and yet it may be one of the most important. As a stress relief for you and your bank account, the spas of Koreatown offer first-class services at economical prices. Edward Kim, manager of Century Sports Club and Day Spa, put it this way: "People say we're a luxury. We're not a luxury. We're more of a luxurious necessity.

There are two kinds of menus at these spas: one for soothing bodily ills and another that furthers restoration from the inside out. Eat well. SPA LUCE Next to the pool deck under Hollywood & Highland's faux Babylonian arch, this newly opened spa serves up cold plates such as quinoa salad and twin melon soup. Relax during the hammam ritual that features a Moroccan mint tea and clay cleanse and a coffee and olive stone scrub. Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, Level 5, 1755 N. Highland Ave.

Not too many day spa owners get into the beauty industry by way of the U.S. Air Force, but that's exactly what Joe Wong did. His unusual career path--from helping NASA develop satellite repair technology to owning a luxury day spa--has both helped him and been a challenge, Wong says. When his young company faced a crisis, the team-building skills he learned in the military came to the fore. Wong was interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein.

Everyone knows what the tradition-minded do the day after all the turkey: shop their stuffing-addled brains out. But what if the last thing you want to do is join the masses who fear their charge cards will be revoked if they don't hit the stores? There are plenty of alternatives that won't take you near a mall. Here are just eight: * Make a picnic of your Thanksgiving leftovers and head for the beach--any beach except Venice Beach, where shoppers will be out in force.

THE frantic holiday season has come to a close. You've drunk yourself blind, eaten yourself silly and worked yourself into a shopping stupor. Fortunately for you, The Guide has shouldered the onerous burden of numerous treatments to steer you toward the finest day-spa pampering the city has to offer. All spas offer a wide menu of treatments for men and women in addition to those we tried. Go ahead, fulfill that New Year's resolution to relax.

IT'S Friday night and the techno beats are bouncing around the dimly lighted room. Perfectly groomed men and gaggles of smartly dressed young women are kicking back with wine, hors d'oeuvres and some pretty intense touching. No one is complaining about the very public interactions, especially not Leonard Lanzi.